I slipped into bed, but my eyes wouldn’t close. Behind each blink came memories I’d have rather purged from my mind.
My hands, cuffed to a bed.
Jack Miller’s breath, hot on my skin.
Dozens of innocents, standing in a jail cell.
Lucas at a card table, gambling for my life.
With each one, my throat ached more, my heart beat harder, and I craved the embrace of the one person I couldn’t have. I wanted Lucas the same way I wanted oxygen in my lungs. Only he could make this excruciating loneliness disappear. Only he could drive away the images stuck in my head.
But somehow, in some way, I fell asleep.
I wokewith a jolt the next morning when Zara set a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Sophia, you need to wake up.”
Blinking away the dark dream that submerged me, I sat up. “What’s wrong?”
Her dark eyes skipped over my face, then dropped away. “Word has gotten out.”
My movement slowed to a stop. “What do you mean?”
“There’s a rumor we’ve captured one of the Blood Colonels,” she said. “There’s a lot of commotion, and they’re saying you were seen…with him.”
She asked no questions, but a tinge of dismay darkened her features.
“What do you mean by commotion?”
“They’re… Well, they’re calling for an execution.”
I was calm—completely calm—but then terror attacked from all angles. It stole my breath, sharpened the pain in my back and deep in my soul.
I leapt out of bed and bolted for the stockade. Outside the hospital wing, the hallways were busier and louder than normal. Angry eyes followed my sprint down the corridor. My reckless hurry made the wounds spark to life as I charged down the stairs, pushing people out of the way.
“There she is!” voices shouted.
I ignored them.
The underground offices of the museum had been converted to holding cells for prisoners, all guarded by a single door now barricaded by five officers. To my surprise, I recognized one of them.
“Adam!” I shouted, and his gaze shot to mine.
I elbowed my way toward him, and the crowd’s roar grew tenser by the second. I caught comments likeLet me have himandString him up, and my heart thudded like it was pumping tar through my veins instead of blood.
Adam seized my arms as I tripped to the front of the crowd. “Jesus, Soph. Is what they’re saying true? A Blood Colonel?”
“You have to let me see him,” I said, breathless.
His eyes widened, and the surrounding officers glared at me like I was some sort of disgusting swamp creature.
Adam dragged me to the side and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What the fuck were you thinking, bringing Lucas Scott here?”
Once again, tears burned my eyes. “We had nowhere else to go.”
He looked like he had a thousand questions, but his attention darted around the escalating mayhem. “They’re going to crucify you for this.”
“If they just knew?—”
“I heard she’s fucking him!” someone shouted, and the voices rocketed to full-on screams.
